How Social Media Can Help You Grow Your Manufacturing Business

Today, an effective social media presence is one of the marketing priorities that all companies need to have.

Why Is Social Media Important?

Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram should be vital parts of any company’s marketing strategy. It's important for business leaders in all industries to realize that social media has become an effective marketing tool that can bring success to any company, including those in manufacturing.

Social media allows you to promote your brand and spread recognition in an easy, cost-effective and fast manner. For manufacturing businesses that have small budgets or are operating a grassroots campaign, social media can be a great place to begin.

A social media presence brings with it a number of benefits, but not enough manufacturing businesses are taking control of their profiles. Whether your business is large or small, social media can give you incredible returns on your investment.

Here are a few ways you can boost your social media presence to start bringing in more customers, spread your message and build brand awareness.

Establish a Social Media Strategy

Social media takes planning. If you try to simply log on and add a few posts every once in a while, you're not going to see the same benefit as you would if you created a proper social media strategy.

To create a social media strategy, think about what you want your social media presence to do for you. Your profiles should reflect who you are and what you value as a company. They should also use a consistent voice and portray a consistent personality.

Determine Your Goals

Once you have a broad picture of what you want your social media to accomplish, it's time to start thinking about clear goals. For a manufacturing business, your goals may include brand awareness, content distribution, lead generation or customer acquisition.

While social media can focus on each of these items in some way, take time to think about what is most important to you. Do you want to see more website traffic? Do you want to increase your number of followers? Do you want your content to reach a larger audience?

Each of these goals will influence how you create your posts, when you post them and what your calls to action will be.

Use Your Employees’ Brainpower

Your social media presence should be a team effort. Because each area or department can benefit from it, you should involve all key players when creating your strategy.

Ask your sales team to provide answers to questions or concerns they hear during meetings or phone calls with potential customers. This information can be used to address concerns online. You can also ask employees to engage with or share your posts on their personal accounts to extend your reach. And if you need additional help with social media, don’t be hesitant to reach out to an independent contractor. For smaller businesses who may not be able to hire a full-time employee to focus on social, a remote worker can be a cost-effective and beneficial option.

Build a Community

When you're trying to grow your social media presence, you may think that numbers are the most important thing. But if you have a ton of followers who aren't engaging with your posts, it’s the same as not having any followers at all. Instead, you need to build a community of followers.

Having a community will help you spread your message and refine your work. They will ask questions, give feedback, share your posts and help you move forward.

Focus on getting the right followers, not just any followers.

Track and Measure

To gauge how well your social media posts are doing, you'll want to use analytics to track and measure their reach. Google Analytics, Hootsuite Analytics, Moz and Salesforce are all great tools to use.

You'll also want to keep an eye on your competition to see what they're doing. Pay attention to what's working and what isn't.

Experiment

Social media allows for quick turnarounds, so feel free to experiment and get creative. If something doesn’t work out, you can try something new the next day.

Be innovative and look for new ways to solve problems or share information. Don’t allow fear to hold you back. Have fun with it!

Social media is one of the best marketing strategies for any business. For very little cost, you can grow your audience and grow your business. With these helpful tips, you can create a social media campaign that launches your business to new heights.